Cinema · Pop Culture · Ethnography
Particular attention is drawn to Dumbledore's final expedition with Harry Potter to a cave on a rocky seashore, which turned out in the end to be a quest for a false Horcrux. The most interesting details emerge when one recalls that at that moment Dumbledore already knew of
NB! · Cinema · Books · Observations · Pop Culture · Ethnography
NB! · Archive · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
How do you like Santa in a sleigh drawn by turkeys? 1909
Paris · People · Pop Culture
The history of the feud involving the Dutch-Javanese supermodel Toto Koopman (1908-1991), who worked in Paris before the Second World War and positively despised Chanel, is also of interest. Later the fascists arrested her for espionage and sent her to a concentration camp. One wonders whether Coco had
Mores · Paris · People · Pop Culture
Well, let us go on recalling spies from the world of fashion. Coco Chanel, for instance, was a Nazi asset in occupied France under the codename Westminster. This is hardly surprising, given that she was the mistress of the SS officer Walter Schellenberg, who wore Hugo Boss and in his
Books · Observations · People · Pop Culture · Humour
lol, fashion historian Alexander Vasiliev has given me a fashionable dressing-down for not citing his bestseller in my piece on Volkova. Needless to say, a great deal is written about the Russian spy in general, especially in the gutter press. But on the whole his "Beauty in Exile&
London · Mores · Society · People · Pop Culture
In 1940, Anna Volkova-Muromtseva, a White émigré and the daughter of the last naval attaché of the Russian Empire in England, was arrested in London. Anna Nikolayevna was charged with breaching the Official Secrets Act. Volkova was an active member of the Right Club, an opponent of Britain'
Art · Cinema · Pop Culture
One of the greatest treasure houses in world cinema: the secret chamber of riches in the abandoned city from the 1942 British-American adaptation of "The Jungle Book". The treasury is shown in two scenes. In the first, Mowgli finds himself in the deserted palace of a vanished
NB! · Aristocracy · Art · Monarchies · Paris · Pop Culture
Speaking of costly jewels, this pearl parure of Marie Antoinette was inherited by her daughter, Marie-Thérèse, the last Dauphine of France, Duchess of Angoulême. The enormous pearl pendant from this set was recently sold for £27,881,497
Archive · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
A hat with cats. IT. IS. GENIUS. An illustration from Life magazine of 16 July 1945. How I long for forty cats on the head to come back into fashion! Preferably with a ball of wool 🌝 The model is by the celebrated milliner Benjamin Green-Field, creator of the Bes-
Art · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
A Modern Venus, or a Woman of Modern Fashion in Her Natural State. 1786. The resemblance to Kim Kardashian is simply incredible. It is surprising, truth be told, that the standards of the late eighteenth century should be so relevant in our own day, and almost shocking that what has
Art · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
At first glance I thought that Palekh had at last graced the cover of the Christie's catalogue, and I rejoiced. But no, this is a 22-centimetre French vase of the late nineteenth century, with handles of turned and patinated bronze, partly gilded, decorated with dragonflies, insects and